The recent announcement that shipping lines are cancelling calls at the port of Cape Town or implementing a Cape Town congestion surcharge from July, and that large volumes of citrus and other exports are being redirected to Eastern Cape ports, is reverberating at provincial and national government levels in South Africa.
As of July 1, the suspension of Argentinian fresh lemon exports to Europe came into force following several detections of black spot in some shipments upon arrival at European ports.
“In the last two weeks, the number of black spot detections has skyrocketed, so we believe that this has been a correct and necessary measure. As a sector, we have to find where the problem is in order to solve it. We are concerned about what has taken place this campaign, but we are even more concerned about what is to come. That is why I think Argentina should soon review the lemon export protocol for Europe. It is clear that this situation will bring changes and adjustments for future campaigns,” says Francisco Rotella, commercial director of the Argentinian lemon producer and marketer Citrusvil.
Current market trends of higher income group consumers include a desire for information related to the products they buy, such as its origin, safety, and social responsibility of the producer. Organically grown fruits seem to be favoured over conventionally produced fruit. Organic production requirements affect all practices related to fruit production including type of fertilisers used, pest and disease control as well as post-harvest chemicals used.
The main objective of this study was to compare the performance of two liquid organic fertilizers, an animal and a plant-based fertilizer, with mineral fertilization on citrus trees. The source of the fertilizer (mineral or organic) had significant effect in the nutritional status of the organic and conventionally managed mandarins. Nutrient uptake, vegetative growth, carbohydrate synthesis and soil characteristics were analyzed. Results showed that plants fertilized with animal based liquid fertilizers exhibited higher total biomass with a more profuse development of new developing organs (leaves and fibrous roots).
Citrus trees infected with Huanglongbing (HLB) bacteria become weak and develop dieback, resulting in lost production. These trees eventually decline to a production level that is not economical to maintain in a citrus operation. Sixteen-year-old ‘Valencia’ (Citrus sinensis Macf.) orange trees on Swingle citrumelo rootstock [C. paradisi × Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.], 100% infected with HLB, in decline and losing production, were severely pruned (buckhorned) to stimulate regrowth and the new flush treated with foliar nutritional sprays. Nutritional sprays included the “Boyd cocktail” and two other nutrient treatments that contained phosphites plus nickel and cobalt. Heavily pruned trees and unpruned standard control trees were compared for shoot growth and canopy development.
Citrus greening has devastated the Sunshine State’s orange industry. Researchers and pioneering farmers see cover crops as a road to recovery.
For the last couple of decades, a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid has fed on the stems and leaves of the orange trees in Florida, infecting them with bacteria that cause a lethal disease called citrus greening. The bacterial disease, huanglongbing (HLB), originated in China and has destroyed 90 percent of the state’s groves, devastating its $9 billion citrus industry.
The presence of Diaphorina citri (Asian citrus psyllid, or ACP), the primary vector of the dreaded Huanglongbing disease (HLB, or Asian Citrus Greening), was first reported in east Africa in Tanzania (2015) and Kenya (2016). Surveys that CRI conducted in collaboration with local scientists, confirmed the presence of ACP in the eastern regions of Tanzania. Recently HLB, previously known to occur in some parts of Ethiopia, was detected on the east coast of Kenya (Fig. 1). The recent detection of HLB in Kenya brings it considerably closer to citrus production in Southern Africa. CRI has engaged in a process with Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) to encourage Kenyan partners to scope the possibility of containing and eradicating the disease in the region.
A strong increase in global demand for citrus has so far been evident in the 2020 export season, according to Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa.
In a statement, Chadwick said increased global demand for lemons had resulted in 4,5 million 15kg-equivalent cartons being shipped to date. This was double the 1,8 million cartons exported during the same period in 2019.